[lbo-talk] "One nation under God"

[Marv Gandall]

Interesting piece by a Princeton historian in today's New York Times about how the phrase originated and was promoted by an alliance of business and clergymen as an antidote to class warfare during the Great Depression, and how its use for that purpose has evolved subsequently, finding its latest echo in Mitt Romney's recent comment: “When you have a president encouraging (sic) the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus 1 percent, you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God.”

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/for-god-so-loved-the-1-percent/?pagemode=print

This recalls the riotously blasphemous cartoon, later a poster, from Paul Krassner's satirical 60's magazine, The Realist, showing God sodomizing Uncle Sam over the caption One Nation Under God.  It's online at the Realist archive : http://www.ep.tc/realist/48/26. when you scroll down to the bottom of the page.